South Florida mass transit

[KendallKid]

The following story is true it involves a Mom(mine) a son (me) and The Miami-Dade Transit Authority.

The year is 2005 the setting is suburban Kendall and the month is June

Open scene

Son:Mom you really ought to start take the metrorail to work, I do, and it saves me a fortune on gas.

Mom:No i used to take it back in 99 and was too inconvenient.

Son: thats all changed now mom trust me. If youll ride it youll like it

Mom:alright ill try it

FAST FORWARD the month is now September

Mom:WOW son you were right. Taking transit from Kendall to Little Havana does save me time and money, I used to have to leave the house at 6:30 to get there by 8. Now i can leave for the bus as late as 7:20. It used to cost me 180 dollars a month on gas plus the 50 dollar a month parking pass at the office. Now ts free because my job covers the cost of the METROPASS. thats a savings of over 2500 A YEAR! Not to mention that driving home used to cause me alot of stress especially after a bad day. Now i get home a half hour before I used to and instead of stressing out behind the wheel I sleep on the MetroRail on the way home. And since the bus now drops me off in front of the nieghborhood I can do my daily walk from the bus to my house which has heloed me lose 5 pounds!

Son:WOW MOM THATS GREAT! 2500! WE CAN HAVE A CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR!(i made this last sentence up)

And they all lived happily ever after

THE END

Close scene

Even if her job didnt cover the cost of the metropass shed still save 1660 a year not to mention the fact that its stress free which is priceless

[Aessotariq]

Great story! Santa will be really good to you this year!

Her employer actually pays for her fare entirely? That's great! More employers need to do that. It's tax-deductible for the employer and it takes one more car and one more stressed motorist off the road. This is a common practice in Japan actually -- the employer subsidizes transit fares.

[Aessotariq]

Check this out... Some of our major expressways may soon try out letting express buses drive along the shoulder of the roadway. As soon as the kinks get worked out and the right bureaucrats sign off on this, it could be in effect.

It reminds me of something I saw in the DC metro area, where in Virginia they open up the shoulder of I-66 and use it as an HOV lane during rush hour. Every few hundred feet they have overhead signs with those dynamic lane markers (they are mounted above the lanes and either display a red X or a green arrow, like the ones around Dolphins Stadium), letting you know if the lane is open. The difference here is that they will be just for buses and emergency vehicles. And as a sidebar, I bet a disabled vehicle in the shoulder causes pretty nasty snarls.

Once implemented down here the speed limit on the shoulder would be 35 mph, and that's a whole lot faster than anywhere on the Palmetto between 36th St and 836, I will tell you that. You could see this on just about any expressway except I-95 (too dangerous). This isn't a bad start, because after all, how are you going provide incentive to get out of your car if all you are going to do is still sit in the same traffic anyway?

http://www.miamitodaynews.com/news/051020/story3.shtml

[Urban_Legend]

What an awesome story, KendallKid! If only transit was that convenient all over the Tri-County area! One day, I suppose...

[KendallKid]

Great story! Santa will be really good to you this year!

Her employer actually pays for her fare entirely? That's great! More employers need to do that. It's tax-deductible for the employer and it takes one more car and one more stressed motorist off the road. This is a common practice in Japan actually -- the employer subsidizes transit fares.

My mom works for the government. So i guess in effect we all pay for her fare

[dave8721]

More funding progress for the Miami Streetcar:

http://www.miamitodaynews.com/news/051110/fyi.shtml

POWERING UP: Miami commissioners have approved $5.2 million to lay underground power infrastructure to help run the city's proposed streetcar system on a 6.8-mile loop linking downtown and Northeast 41st Street in the Design District. Officials hope to have the streetcars going by 2009 at an estimated cost of $132 million.

[Urban_Legend]

I can't wait! I want to see Miami turn mass transit from an annoying last-resort-ride to a viable, efficient alternative!

[Southernyank]

http://www.miamitodaynews.com/news/051215/story4.shtml

some updated info on transit and budget.

[Urban_Legend]

^That's good news. Here's some key facts/exerpts:

Beneficiaries of the funding include the proposed Port of Miami tunnel, the Miami International Airport Central Boulevard project and the State Road 826 interchange at Southwest 40th Street.

Funding allocations include:

[Southernyank]

Heres a link to a previous photo Baylink. does anyone know if they are going to keep this design or update it.

http://downtownmiami.photomachine.net/tour/gallery/DDA/aaa

[Urban_Legend]

^Since transit projects like Baylink take soooo long, I'm not quite sure if the initial design will make it all the way to the finished product. I'm sure it'll be something like that rendering...